Today at Lime Rock
05-25-2012, 08:05 PM
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Burning Brakes
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Today at Lime Rock
LAKEVILLE, Conn. (May 25) - On a beautiful day at Lime Rock Park for practice and qualifying for the season-opening Trans Am race weekend, Tony Ave took the pole for Saturday’s 100-mile feature Trans Am race, taking his Lamers/PME Engines/RPX Chevy Corvette around Lime Rock in :50.845. Ave, the 2011 Trans Am champion, is trying to recover from a poor result in last weekend’s opening round at Mosport, where he DNF’d after suffering a broken axle midway through the race.
Second-fastest with a :50.862 was Doug Peterson – the Mosport winner – in his 3dimensional.com Vette, while Simon Gregg, also in a Corvette, turned a :51.346 to start third. The only woman to win a Trans Am race in the 46-year history of the series, Amy Ruman, turned a :51.723 and will start fourth in her Corvette. She’s never turned a lap at Lime Rock prior to last Tuesday’s test day.
In the TA2 division, quickest was Pete Halsmer, the Mosport victor, with a :54.823 in his Ctek Battery Chargers Chevy Camaro.
In qualifying for the F1600 Formula F series, Matias Koykka, the 17-year-old from Finland, put in a :53.573 to take pole, out-pacing Brandon Newey (:54.103) and Roberto Lorena (:54.582). The grid for race two will be set by each driver’s fastest lap in race one, set to go green at 11:00 a.m. Saturday.
F2000’s qualifying session saw Robert LaRocca put in a wicked-fast lap of :50.089 to take pole, with Kyle Connery, Wyatt Gooden and Niki Coello filling out the first two rows. It’s race-two grid will also be set by fastest laps in race one.
We don’t have any practice times from the VSCCA sessions, but with a vintage race grid that has cars as varied as 1948 MGs, 1959 Stanguellini Formula Juniors and 1960 Lotus 7s to ’65 Vettes and even a 1973 Saab 99, their two Saturday races will be wild and wooly.
Saturday’s schedule is packed with seven races – two each for F1600, F2000 and VSCCA, plus the Trans Am feature – with the first race set to go at 9:40 a.m.
-Rick Roso
Second-fastest with a :50.862 was Doug Peterson – the Mosport winner – in his 3dimensional.com Vette, while Simon Gregg, also in a Corvette, turned a :51.346 to start third. The only woman to win a Trans Am race in the 46-year history of the series, Amy Ruman, turned a :51.723 and will start fourth in her Corvette. She’s never turned a lap at Lime Rock prior to last Tuesday’s test day.
In the TA2 division, quickest was Pete Halsmer, the Mosport victor, with a :54.823 in his Ctek Battery Chargers Chevy Camaro.
In qualifying for the F1600 Formula F series, Matias Koykka, the 17-year-old from Finland, put in a :53.573 to take pole, out-pacing Brandon Newey (:54.103) and Roberto Lorena (:54.582). The grid for race two will be set by each driver’s fastest lap in race one, set to go green at 11:00 a.m. Saturday.
F2000’s qualifying session saw Robert LaRocca put in a wicked-fast lap of :50.089 to take pole, with Kyle Connery, Wyatt Gooden and Niki Coello filling out the first two rows. It’s race-two grid will also be set by fastest laps in race one.
We don’t have any practice times from the VSCCA sessions, but with a vintage race grid that has cars as varied as 1948 MGs, 1959 Stanguellini Formula Juniors and 1960 Lotus 7s to ’65 Vettes and even a 1973 Saab 99, their two Saturday races will be wild and wooly.
Saturday’s schedule is packed with seven races – two each for F1600, F2000 and VSCCA, plus the Trans Am feature – with the first race set to go at 9:40 a.m.
-Rick Roso
05-26-2012, 07:09 PM
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LAKEVILLE, Conn. (May 26) - Under warm, sunny skies at Lime Rock Park for the second race of the 2012 Trans Am Series, Simon Gregg won the 66-lap race in dramatic fashion. Gregg, son of the late road racing star of the 70s and a two-time trans Am champion Peter, hounded round-one winner Doug Peterson for most of the race, pouncing into the lead on lap 52 when Peterson made a miscue in the Lefthander while Gregg was inches off Peterson’s bumper. A full course caution a couple laps later gave Peterson a last chance to ****** the lead back, but Gregg made good on the re-start with three laps to go and beat Peterson to the line by 7/10s of a second. Finishing third was Amy Ruman, who completed the last 10 laps with no power steering. Gregg, Peterson and Ruman were all in Corvettes, while saving face for Ford was David Jans, snagging fourth in his Mustang. For Gregg, it was his first Trans Am win in 99 starts.
Fifth overall and first in the TA2 division was Bob Stretch in his Camaro, with Pete Halsmer (Camaro) and Mike Wilson (Chevy Monte Carlo) rounding out the TA2 podium.
In the first of two F1600 Formula F races, Matias Koykka started from pole and never looked back, leading all 30 laps for his second F1600 victory in three races, driving the No. 10 Spectrum/Honda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. Koykka also set fastest lap, worth championship points and pole position for race two, beating points-leader Brandon Newey and Jeremy Grenier.
In Formula F’s second race, Newey nabbed the win, with Grenier second and double-duty driver Joe Colasacco – he drove a Stanguellini Formula Junior in the vintage races this weekend – was third. Newey was coached this weekend by Simon Kirkby, director of the Lime Rock Drivers Club. Just sayin’...
In the F2000 morning race, Wyatt Gooden took his maiden victory at Lime Rock Park, inheriting the lead after the two guys in front of him ran into trouble. First, Robert La Rocca tore off 50 percent of his front wing dealing with lapped traffic, then Kyle Connery went off in the late stages of the race, also while working traffic. Gooden stood on top of the podium after three straight top three finishes in the No. 6 Quantum Racing Services Van Diemen. Niki Coello finished second in an RFR chassis, and La Rocca – somehow – came home third with his half-wing. The race ended under caution because of Connery’s late-race incident, handing Gooden his maiden win in just his fifth F2000 Championship Series outing.
In the second F2000 race – the grid was based on each driver’s fastest lap in race one, as was done in Formula F – Gooden was not so good while LaRocca was LaWinning. On a late-race restart, Gooden and Coello, second and third to leader LaRocca at the time, got into each other – and their race was done. LaRocca cruised to a 3.3-second margin win over Tim Minor, one of the “old” guys at age 40, with Chris Livengood “doing good” in finishing third.
Today was the weekend’s Grand Marshal’s birthday: Sam Posey turned 68 and was almost brought to tears when the National Anthem singer, South Windsor’s Jeanette Porcello, asked the very healthy crowd to join her in singing Happy Birthday to Sam. It was a very cool moment... Thank you, LRP fans. But dawgs, you were a bit pitchy... Just kidding!
Next up at Lime Rock Park: The American Le Mans Series race, July 6-7.
- Rick Roso
Fifth overall and first in the TA2 division was Bob Stretch in his Camaro, with Pete Halsmer (Camaro) and Mike Wilson (Chevy Monte Carlo) rounding out the TA2 podium.
In the first of two F1600 Formula F races, Matias Koykka started from pole and never looked back, leading all 30 laps for his second F1600 victory in three races, driving the No. 10 Spectrum/Honda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. Koykka also set fastest lap, worth championship points and pole position for race two, beating points-leader Brandon Newey and Jeremy Grenier.
In Formula F’s second race, Newey nabbed the win, with Grenier second and double-duty driver Joe Colasacco – he drove a Stanguellini Formula Junior in the vintage races this weekend – was third. Newey was coached this weekend by Simon Kirkby, director of the Lime Rock Drivers Club. Just sayin’...
In the F2000 morning race, Wyatt Gooden took his maiden victory at Lime Rock Park, inheriting the lead after the two guys in front of him ran into trouble. First, Robert La Rocca tore off 50 percent of his front wing dealing with lapped traffic, then Kyle Connery went off in the late stages of the race, also while working traffic. Gooden stood on top of the podium after three straight top three finishes in the No. 6 Quantum Racing Services Van Diemen. Niki Coello finished second in an RFR chassis, and La Rocca – somehow – came home third with his half-wing. The race ended under caution because of Connery’s late-race incident, handing Gooden his maiden win in just his fifth F2000 Championship Series outing.
In the second F2000 race – the grid was based on each driver’s fastest lap in race one, as was done in Formula F – Gooden was not so good while LaRocca was LaWinning. On a late-race restart, Gooden and Coello, second and third to leader LaRocca at the time, got into each other – and their race was done. LaRocca cruised to a 3.3-second margin win over Tim Minor, one of the “old” guys at age 40, with Chris Livengood “doing good” in finishing third.
Today was the weekend’s Grand Marshal’s birthday: Sam Posey turned 68 and was almost brought to tears when the National Anthem singer, South Windsor’s Jeanette Porcello, asked the very healthy crowd to join her in singing Happy Birthday to Sam. It was a very cool moment... Thank you, LRP fans. But dawgs, you were a bit pitchy... Just kidding!
Next up at Lime Rock Park: The American Le Mans Series race, July 6-7.
- Rick Roso
